Court Rules Out Credibility Defense

August 8, 1985|By Jon Peck, Staff Writer

Prosecutors will be able to take to court two men charged in a 1984 Riviera Beach drug crackdown following an appeals court ruling Wednesday that stops defense attorneys from attacking the credibility of the arresting officer.

The state had been forced to drop charges against one suspect and put the case against another on hold when Palm Beach Circuit Judge Marvin Mounts allowed testimony about repeated disciplinary violations in the officer`s past.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach overruled Mounts, saying the years-old reprimands have no bearing on the drug cases against George Pettis, 31, and Samuel Charles Jackson, 53, both of Riviera Beach.

As a result, prosecutors said the state probably will bring the men to trial. Though the cases involve the sale of small amounts of marijuana, Riviera Beach police said the arrests were part of a major undercover drug operation.

``But for the ruling from the (appeals court), I think we`d have been hard- pressed to proceed with the evidence,`` said H.H. ``Trey`` Hester, who prosecuted the first case against Jackson. Jurors in the March trial acquitted Jackson after hearing details of the police officer`s disciplinary records.

Riviera Beach officer Reno Lamar Wells was involved in two separate arrests of Jackson and one of Pettis in May 1984. In each case, Wells posed as a buyer looking for small amounts of marijuana.

Officials acknowledged the cases relied on the officer`s word against the suspects`. Defense attorneys attacked Wells` credibility by citing a list of five disciplinary violations when Wells was a Miami police officer from 1980-82.

Prosecutor Hester protested, arguing Wells` record had nothing to do with the drug cases and would unfairly prejudice the jury. Court records showed Wells` reprimands were for such infractions as failing to report another officer`s excessive use of force and not reporting a time his gun accidentally fired.

But Judge Mounts agreed with defense attorneys that the jury should be allowed to hear evidence that might call the officer`s honesty into question.

``The bigger answer to the question,`` Mounts said at the time, ``is for you to tell the police, `Send undercover people in who do not have cloudy past records.` ``

Hester said the state was forced to drop a second case against Jackson because of Mounts` ruling, but probably will refile the charge of selling marijuana. The Pettis case had been deferred, but court records show it has been tentatively reset for December.

Sarah B. Mayer, the assistant attorney general who handled the state`s appeal, said Wednesday`s ruling will help the state prosecute the suspects.

``There were going to be a lot of cases going down the tube,`` she said. ``Once you get one acquittal, you run the risk of having a bunch of them.``